Xatcobeo

Students at the University of Vigo in Spain have built Xatcobeo a CubeSat that carries a Software Defined Radio (SDR) and a solar panel deployment mechanism. A launch on an ESA Vega rocket in February is planned.

The IARU Amateur Satellite Coordination Panel pages report that it carries three payloads:

SRAD: a Software Defined Radio. The aim is to test under space conditions a reconfigurable radio. Different modulation schemes will be selected depending on the link conditions.

RDS: an ionizing radiation dosimeter. This dosimeter will take measurements of ionizing radiation in a typical LEO orbit for amateur satellites, thus increasing our knwoledge about radiation conditions in this environment.

PDM: a solar panel deployment mechanism to be tested in-flight.

Xatcobeo plans to use FFSK with AX.25 on UHF. These frequencies have been coordinated – Simplex 437.365 MHz and SSR downlink on 145.940 MHz.